When it comes to choosing the right computers for your business, unfortunately, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution, there’s only the right and wrong machines to suit your business. A lot of choosing the right computers can be quite technical, so it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when being faced with important information that you don’t necessarily understand – there’s no wonder that it’s a difficult decision.

To help you find the computers that will get the job done for your business, here are some important questions that you need to consider to find the best system for your needs.

Question 1 – Desktop or Laptop?

How are you and your staff likely to use your machines? If you want to take your computer to meets, on business trips, for presentations and for working at home, then laptops are your best option. Ultra-light laptops are easy to carry around as hand luggage and work just the same as a desktop computer.

If on the other hand, you prefer to keep your computers as a desk base, a desktop computer is probably best for you. You can benefit from larger monitor screen sizes, which is particularly useful if you work in a creative industry.

For most modern businesses, it’s probably a good idea to use both laptops and desk top computers. Desktops provide a great solution in the office, but for more flexibility, it’s always useful to have company laptops available for certain members of staff.

Question 2 – How much memory do I need?

Generally speaking, more memory is always better, but it is also more expensive. Random-access memory, or RAM, is the short-term storage that your computer must use when running programs, so it’s essential to have enough memory to efficiently use the programs that you need on a daily basis.

When buying new computers, it’s always smart to ascertain whether you can upgrade RAM or not to improve the functionality and increase its life. In some computers, factory installed RAM could be upgraded, for example, 8 gigabytes of RAM could be quadrupled to 32 gigabytes, a considerable expansion.

Some laptops have a sealed base that prevent upgrading – when this is the case, the best option is to buy the most memory that your budget will allow.

Question 3 – What processor do I need?

Processors (central processing units or CPUs) are the most expensive part of a computer system and processing power is of vital importance when choosing which computers to buy. When choosing a CPU, you need to find out how many cores it has (between 2 and 8) as the higher the number, the more data the computer can crunch. Clock speed is also important, as the higher the speed (measured in gigahertz or GHz), the faster the computer runs.

If your computers will mainly be used for word processing, spreadsheets and banking, processing speed isn’t quite so important. On the other hand, production, rendering or high levels of data management need fast processing.

Generally speaking, desktop computers are faster as they can house higher powered processors. Laptops are smaller and use space more efficiently, but they usually use lower-powered processors, however, there are exceptions; some laptops are designed to be super-fast.

Question 4 – What about hard drive?

As well as choosing a hard drive that can provide all the digital storage you need, it’s also important to find a hard drive that allows you to access your information as fast as possible. Solid state drives are usually the fastest and are more energy efficient. As they have no moving parts and store all information on microchips, they are commonly chosen for laptops.

Hard disk drives also have many benefits, for one, they allow for more storage space, but they are also usually lower priced and are more readily available than SSDs at this moment in time. HDDs usually begin at 500 gigabytes and can be increased to as many as 1 to 4 terabytes, so it often makes more economical sense to choose the traditional hard drive.

Once you have considered these four questions, you can start thinking about what extras you may need from your computers, in terms of connectivity and software. At Net Technical Solutions, our expert team can work with you to carefully match the right machines to perfectly fit your company requirements and budget. For guidance in overcoming your computer conundrums, call today on 01252 235 235 or send us a message online via our website.

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